While BenedictCumberbatch‘sfuture on Sherlockis uncertain at the moment, the actor has locked up another part for television. The Doctor Strange star will star in Showtime’s adaptation of Edward St. Aubyn‘s Melrose novels, including Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, and Mother’s Milk. Cumberbatch will play Aubyn’s protagonist, Patrick Melrose, in the miniseries.

There are a handful of classic tales that seem to get reinterpreted for the screen every few years, and among them is Charles Dickens‘ Great Expectations. The most recent theatrical version you probably recall is Alfonso Cuarón’s 1998 modernized version featuring Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Bancroft, and Ethan Hawke, and since then there have been at least two other adaptations for TV.

Now the latest director to tackle the Victorian coming-of-age tale is Mike Newell, who brings the story back to its original 19th century setting. Jeremy Irvine (War Horse) stars as Pip, a poor orphan boy whose life takes an unexpected twist when a mysterious benefactor arranges for him to become a gentleman. Up-and-comer Holliday Grainger stars as the unattainable object of his affections, Estella, while Helena Bonham Carter tackles the iconic role of spiteful shut-in Miss Havisham. Watch the first international trailer after the jump.

The theme of this Casting Bits seems to be “rising stars,” as All My Children‘s Ambyr Childers stakes out a spot in an all-star cast, War Horse star Jeremy Irvine leads a movie starring Britain’s finest, and Thor actress Jaimie Alexander signs on to co-star with the Governator himself. Read more after the jump.

An Education director Lone Scherfig decided to follow up that film with One Day, an adaptation of the novel by David Nicholls (he also scripted) in which a young couple spends their college graduation night together, and then we see their relationship/friendship evolve over the following years by sampling one day each year. So there’s a long timeline that theoretically allows a lot of interplay between the characters, and an opportunity to portray quite a few different pop-culture eras. It’s When Harry Met Sally and Friends With Benefits and Same Time, Next Year all in one.

Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess star with support from Patricia Clarkson, Romola Garai and Jodie Whittaker. The trailer is out now; it lurks after the break, bumming me out. Read More »

Focus Features has dropped new images from two of the company’s more promising 2011 films: Lone Scherfig‘s One Day and Cary Fukunaga‘s Jane Eyre.

That’s the new Jane Eyre image, above, showing Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender as the lead characters of Charlotte Brontë‘s famous novel. We’ve seen one trailer already (and it was pretty wonderful, check it if you missed that post) but this image is notable for showing the characters in a serene, even tender moment.

Get more info on Jane Eyre and see the images from One Day, after the break. Read More »

On the blah blah rounds to promote her latest picture The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, producer Nina Jacobson has let slip the main talent attached to upcoming project One Day. She revealed that as well as director Lone Scherfig, BAFTA nominated for An Education, there’s also potential stars Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess in orbit too. The contracts aren’t signed yet, said Jacobson, but “their deals are being negotiated right now.”

One Day is to be adapted from David Nicholls‘ novel of the same name. The book’s big idea is that the narrative is set on St. Swithin’s day only, but on that day every year over a 20 year period from 1988 to 2008. Expect to see Hathaway and Sturgess subjected to a whole roster of fancy haircuts and fashions, then.